Introduction
The idea of creating a water passage across the isthmus of Panama to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans dates back to at least the 1500s: After explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa realized that a narrow strip of land separated the two oceans, King Charles I of Spain tapped his regional governor to survey a route along the Chagres River in Panama. What followed is documented in the links at the bottom of this page.
Realizing the impact the canal traffic would have on the economy of the United States, the states scrambled to develop not only a highway system connecting the various market centers within their states, but a transcontinental system of highways as well. In 1907, California legislators created the Division of Highways and in 1910, California voters approved an $18 million bond issue for the construction of a state highway system. The framers of the State Highway Act of 1909 contemplated that the State should construct two main or trunk roads throughout the length of the State, one along the coast and one through the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. The act specifically declared that these trunk lines were to be laid out by the “most direct and practicable routes,” and that the county seats of such counties east or west of the said trunk lines were to be connected by laterals. On August 7, 1912, the California broke ground on its first highway construction project, the section of El Camino Real between South San Francisco and Burlingame with the intent to complete the main routes between San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento in time for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition planned for 1915 in San Francisco, and the Panama–California Exposition, also planned for 1915 in San Diego.
Anticipating the need for road improvements across the Mojave Desert to accommodate traffic on the National Old Trails Road bound for the Panama Canal celebrations, the County of San Bernardino held a special election on Oct. 20, 1914, and voters approved surfacing the road 16 feet wide with crushed limestone aggregate and asphaltic binding from the crossing of the Colorado River at Topock, Arizona, to San Bernardino. The Chief Engineer, E. Q. Sullivan, of Division VIII, Division of Highways in San Bernardino, who drove the route in 1923 described it as two ruts in the sand and two rows of chuck holes in areas of hard ground; the trip taking over two days each way. The ravages of weather, wind, and traffic had totally obliterated the paving, except for a ten-mile stretch near Essex.
When it was designated as U.S. Highway 66 in 1926, the Division of Highways further improved the route with bridges across the many washes and upgraded the paving to a high-type asphaltic concrete surface. After it was decommissioned on June 27, 1985, the route from Topock to San Bernardino was taken over by the County of San Bernardino. Currently, the County is rebuilding the bridges between Barstow and Needles, and much of the road is closed to traffic as described in the link below, "National Trails Highway – Route 66."
The Arroyo Seco Parkway from Los Angeles to Pasadena, California's first freeway, was marked as U.S. Highway 66 from the time it was opened to traffic on December 30, 1940, until October 19, 1963, when U.S. Highway 66 from Needles to Santa Monica was decertified by AASHTO. In 1999, the American Society of Civil Engineers designated the Parkway as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, as described in the link below, labeled "Arroyo Seco Parkway."
The Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena also carried U.S. Highway 66 until 1940, when U.S. 66 was re-routed to the Arroyo Seco Parkway. In 2013, the bridge's Centennial, as well as the Centennial of the Los Angeles Section of ASCE, the bridge was designated as an ASCE State Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, having been designated as a Local Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1974.
Only two segments of U.S. 66 remain as a California State highway; a 3.02-mile segment in the City of San Bernardino, and a 3.22-mile segment in the Cities of LaVerne, Pomona, and Claremont.
On February 24, 2021, the Federal Highway Administration’s National Scenic Byways Program designated Historic Route 66 between Needles and Barstow a National Scenic Byway, following eight years of outreach and collaboration, lead by the California Historic Route 66 Association and the Bureau of Land Management California Desert Districts Barstow and Needles field offices.
References
Panama Canal History.com
Building the Panama Canal, 1903–1914 Office of the Historian U.S. Department of State
An Introduction to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition California Historical Society
Panama Pacific International Exposition American Group West
About the Panama-California Exposition American Group
Key Decision Point Coming for the Panama Canal Center for Central & Economic Studies
National Trails Highway – Route 66 San Bernardino County Department of Public Works.
Arroyo Seco Parkway Los Angeles Section ASCE History & Heritage Committee
Colorado Street Bridge Los Angeles Section ASCE History & Heritage Committee
Old Trails Bridge Los Angeles Section ASCE History & Heritage Committee